User blog:1steditionman/My top-20 Hot Wheels Designs and Why I like Them
The following list includes my Top-20 Hot Wheels in-house designs and why I like them. Of course this is completely subjective. Here they are: 1- GM Chevroletor. 2008. An original Designer Challenge Competition car. It was designed by my homeboy Amaury Diaz as a Bonneville record speeder. It's been 13 years and there's still not one Hot Wheels I like more. 2- Custom Otto. 1968/2008. Otto Kuhni/Larry Wood. Maybe its because it is the car on the card when my dad took me to Bargain Town every afternoon to get a new Hot Wheels back in 1969-70. Yeah, I'm that old. 3- Blvd. Bruiser . 2011. There isn't a Larry Wood design I don't like. But the Bruiser tops them all. Ponycar lines with metallic colors...hard to describe. I love this car. 4- Muscle Bound. 2019. Tyler Charest. When I first saw this casting a saw a winner. I knew it would immediately be in my top-Ten list. To quote Lamley: there's a lot going on in this casting. Why? It has everything we love about muscle cars and pony cars: the fast back, the long hood, wide rear fenders with larger rear wheels, raked stance, the ST8's, and more. The design amalgamates what we like about the 1971 AMX, the 1971 Mustang Mach 1, the Kenmery Skyline, the Australian '73 Ford Falcon XB GT and more. But what was the designer's main inspiration? I'd love to know. This is a Top-3 Casting for 2019. Yes I could say that so early in the model year. I love this car. 5- Muscle Tone. 2000. Eric Tscheme. Bumped from 4th by Muscle Bound. I love its clean lines and hidden headlights similar to a late 1960's Charger. 6-Prototype H24. 2008. Fraser Campbell. Definitely inspired by LeMans, those huge air scoops on the front in your rear view mirror coming at you.... Scary Schit! 7- Duel Fueler. 2008. Greg Paddington. Is this a fusion between a dragster and a catamaran? Don't know, but I love the lines. 8- Madfast. 2009. Bryan Benedict. A fantasy dragster with curves. A very feasible design with the engine in the right place (if you ask 1960's drag racers!). 9- La Fasta. 2009. Fraser Campbell. I love it because it is an Italian-inspired design. 10- Velocita. 2014. Miguel Lopez. What a beautiful car! Straight out of a Speed Racer episode. Velocita 11- Phantastique. 2000. Mark Jones. For some reason, Hot Wheels very seldom releases cars like this one. So when they do, they immediately become favorites. 12- Night Shifter. 2016. Dave Root. I like to think the designer was inspired by a 1970's British roadster. 13-Super Smooth. 2002. Alec Tam. I just had to have a truck or two among my favorite cars. 14- Zotic. 2003. Alec Tam. I love its lines and resemblance to a Lambo. 15- Scoopa Di Fuego. (Designer currently unknown by me) 2010. Italian-inspired hypercar. 16. Fast Bed Hauler. 2014. Abe Lugo. I always liked cab-over trucks. On this one, I dig the Medieval shield-style grille. 17. Brit Speed. 2009. Jun Imai. Maybe it is because of the original and very proper metallic British Racing Green. 18. Avant Garde. 2009. Jun Imai. Here's a lovely French design-inspired car, in proper French colors. 19. Aeropod. 2015. Miguel Lopez. It is big, spacely, and badass-looking. Then to kill me, you mold it in transluscent colors in the X Raycers Segment. Cruel! 20. Hammered Coupe. 2000. Greg Paddington. It's the V-12 Engine! 20. Twin Mill. 1969 (Honorific eternal tie to #20). Ira Gilford. One of those Hot Wheels iconic cars. I remember when I was little I did not care much about it. But I appreciate how it has become an all-time favorite. So it is on my list. So there they are. There are so many more original Mattel castings I like. I am aware of many of those I left out, especially those from the early 1970's like the Rocket Bye Baby, the Noodlehead, and others from the 80's-2000's like the Surf Crate, Bone Shaker and others. But as you might have noticed, I prefer those cars inspired by European designs, low-stance and bright metallic colors, or ponycar (raked, short-deck/long hood), dragsters and supercars. Out of self respect, you will never see toasters, "Lego" cars toilet seats, bubble gummers or Poppa Wheelies in my sacred Top-20. 1EdMan ---- (edits: Jan 1, 2019 after the Muscle Bound came out, whick bumped Muscle Tone from 4th Spot; Jan 12: Added some missing designers and more comments) ---- Jan 2020. The list still stands. There's a few new cars coming soon that spark my interest. I might review the order soon. Minor edits. ---- Feb 2020. If I extended the list to TOP-30, then number 21 would be the Runway Res-Q. It's been a year since its release and I still love this casting as I did the first time I saw it. I know this vehicle flies off the pegs because kids love it once they see it. It is very playable, large in size and full of all kinds of details. I wish someday Mattel retooled this one in all-metal form. In fact, it could easily be placed among my top-10. You see, It reminds me very much of my childhood days' Big Jim's Rescue Rig Playset. And with its second color release in green, we've learned that Hot Wheels has an Airline! complete with its own service vehicles. So don't stop here Mattel! 1EdMan Category:Blog posts